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GPO 16 — 74G4 



GRKA.T SPEECH 

OF 

Greneretl HoAvell CobTj 

DELIVERED IN ATLANTA, GA., JULY 33, 18t5.S. 

^.S^" lially Reported lor anil rablislied by the "Chronicle aud Sentinel," AnMiista. (ia.) 



Mt. President, ladies and ftentlemp)). : ithat government in order that, to tlie cx- 

1 congratulate you, my friends, ibat the; tent it is in your power, your rights and 
:ime has come in Georgia when the people [interests may receive some protection, 
jan meet to(?ether as you have assembled 1 1 shall offer some advice to Governor Bul- 
■o-day. "When I "say the people" I mean lock. Although he has not sent for me 
just those I see before me — these women or summoned me to his councils, I shall 
md children, these good men and true, 'waive etiquette and give him some advice 
who are the representatives of the menlwhich will do him good and be of great 
and women throughout our Stale. I con ibcnefit to the State if he follows it. 
sjratulatc you, that you meet and again! If he does not follow it, it has cost him 
hear the voices of your favorite sons— that so little, he will have no right to complain 
you can respond in your hearts to the of me for having offored it. I would just 
patriotic sentiments which fall from the say to him : Mr. Bullock, the people of 
lips of those sons. While the past casts 'Georgia have done you no wrong. It is 
its shadows over the land, and ray own I your duty to inflict as little evil upon them 
heart is in full sympathy with the picture las possible. Remember the circumstances 
which was drawn by my friend, yet I do under which you have been called upon 
feel rising up in my soul the promise of a to execute the duties of your Gubernato^ 
brighter day not far distant in the future. I rial ofl5ce, and my advice to you is to be- 
To-day, in common with you, I have j have yourself just as well as your nature 
heard the familiar voice of one who, in j and education will admit. [Laughter and 
times past, has aroused his countrymen! applause.] I would say to him, in all 
from the mountains to the seaboard. He | kindness, that in the matter of chsracter 
speaks freely and there is none to make and reputation s^^ou have everything to 
him afraid. [Applause.] God speed thelmake and nothing to lose. [Laughter 
day when the echoes of that voice shall be and applause.] A better opportunity 
hoard throughout all the land, speaking! never was offered to any man. He is like 
from his old standpoint in the Nationaljan adventurous youth who goes into a 
Jjegislature. My friends, the argument on, gambling house without money to play at 
that branch of the subject which has beenjtaro. He has everything to win and noth- 
disoussed by my friend has been presented ing to lose. He may break the, bank, but 
to you so comprehensively that I shall not i the Vank cannot hurt ',him.^ I would say 
tresiiass upon your time, nor weaken its'to him, Mr. Bullock, this Constitution 
powiir and influence by a recapitulation of, which has been imposed upon the paople 
it. It was an exposition of truths that i of Georgia against their will and without 
^ill live when you and I have passed away their approval, invests you with a groat 
and are gono. The people of Georgia to- deal of powei'. Exercise it in a way to do 
day are passing through a trying ordeal, good to the State if you can. You have 
which, I trust and believe, will be of short got a judiciary to appoint. I would advise 
duration, and from which they will emerge 'you to send for the oflScial copy of the ad- 
rcfined and purified like gold from the dress of the Chairman of the Grant and 
iurnace. They are living under a govern- Colfax Executive State Committee written 
ntent whose days are numbered, but while by one Joseph E. Brown, in which he at;- 
it exists it is well that we make the best we sumcs to announce for you that the Judi- 
ean of it. 1 shall offer some suggestions ciary of Georgia will be corruptly appointed 
here in your hearing lor the benefit o^ to subserve base and partisan purposes, 
ihose who are called upon to administer and when you get it make a bonfire of the 



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paper, and blot from your memory the rec 
ollection of its contents. Be not deceived 
with the idea that becaase your predeces- 
sor, the author of this paper, waspartially 
successful in adding to his strength and 
popularity by a corrupt use of his official 
patronage, that a like success will attend a 
like corrupt course on your part. If the 
argument based on considerations of patri- 
otism and duty cannot reach you, let me 
warn you, as a matter of policy, not 
to resort to a course of conduct so un^ 
worthy, so base, and which, in the 
end, will be of no benefit to you, but must 
produce calamitous results for the State. 
The appeal I make for the appointment ol 
an honest Judiciary is one which should 
commend itself to the favor of any man 
holding the high positionyou occupy, even 
though he reached that position by a not 
over creditable accident, the details of 
which I will not stop to discuss. I beg 
you to remember that since the organiza- 
tion of the Supreme Court of Georgia no 
one has been appointed to that Bench who 
did not command the respect and confi- 
dence of the people. No one has ever 
filled that high station on whose integrity 
and honesty the shadow of a doubt ever 
rested. It remains with you to determine 
whether the high character of that Bench 
shall be maintained, or whether it shall 
become a refuge for destitute and discarded 
politicians whose infamy and treachery 
have made them outcasts from the com- 
panionship of honest men. [Applause.! 
In the name of the people of Georgia I 
call upon you this day to drive from your 
presence these bad men who ask you to 
forfeit the only claim you can ever have to 
public respect and confidence, by the ap- 
pointment of such men to offices of 
trust and honor. Rid yourself of the 
miserable vermin who are fastening 
themselves upon you, who are calling on 
you to appoint them to the Supreme 
Court, the Superior Court and the Dis- 
trict Court, and who, in the better days of 
the Republic, would never have presumed 
to solicit the appointment of a door- 
keeper or a messenger — men whom you 
know to be unworthy, and whose only^ 
claim to the positions they seek at yourj 
hands is the record of their own infamy. I 
(Loud applause. ] How strange and start-! 
ling it will sound to the ears of those who| 
live beyond the limits of our State to 
hear an appeal made by the people of! 
Georgia to him who exercises the highest | 
executive power to grant the State an 
honest judiciary 1 And yet strange as it 
may appear, startling as it is, the rumors 
which fill the atmosphere of this capital 



justify the apprehension upon which the 
appeal is based. Therefore, I say to you, 
Mr. Bullock, be warned in time. Commit 
not these outrages upon a people who, 
God knows, have suffered enough at the 
hands of their oppressors. If you heed 
not this warning voice to-day, the time 
will come when you will repent in sack- 
I cloth and ashe^ the degradation which 
lyou willhave brought upon yourself by the 
infliction of such an outrage upon a 
brave, a generous, and an honest people, 
in whose conduct toward you, you can 
find no justification for the injury you will 
have done. All I ask of you is to appoint 
honest men to these high positions, men 
who will administer the laws of the State 
in obedience to the conscientious obliga- 
tions of their oaths. Fill all the offices 
with honest men. Protect the Treasury 
from the robber-band who are assembled 
here to break in and steal. Do these 
things, and at the end of your service 
you will have the consolation of knowing 
that if you have done the State no good, 
you will have refrained from doing it any 
serious harm. [Applause. J And for you, 
this would be a result which your warmest 
admirers could not have reasonably antici- 
pated. [Laughter and applause. ] 

And now I turn from an appeal to those 
in power to you, my countrymen, and I 
invoke your aid and co-operation in the 
great work before us, of lifting our State 
from its present fallen condition, and restor- 
ing it to its former prosperity and equality 
among her sister commonwealths of the 
Union. It is a noble work, worthy of the 
best eS"orts of our people, in which all 
good men can and ought to unite with an 
earnest and cordial good will. The day of 
arms has passed. We look for the dawn 
of a day of peace — such peace as carries 
healing on its wings and diffuses blessings 
over the land — not such peace as is offered 
to you at the point of the bayonet, or is 
contained in the findings of a miHtary 
commission, but the peace which is found- 
ed on justice, is supported by the law, is 
accompanied by liberty, and brings rejoic- 
ing and contentment to every heart. Such 
is the peace which will follow the election 
of Seymour and Blair, and the restoration 
of the Constitution — a peace which will 
be for to-day, to-morrow, and for all time 
to come, because it will be a peace that 
would calm all the troubled waters, quiet 
all apprehensions, restore confidence and 
security in all the departments of life, and 
cause every one, everywhere, to feel that 
the good old days of the Republic had re- 
turned. Such a peace is worthy of the 
best efforts of patriots, the prayers of 



''^^^31^ 






Christians, and will command the blessingf 
of Heaven. [Loud applause. ] 

I am here to day to invoke your aid and 
co-operation in carrying forward this great 
and good work. 

THk work for TUE true QEORaiAN. 

My countrymen, I care not who you are, 
I care not what has been your past party 
history, I look to your status to-day. I 
want to know what you intend to do for 
your country in the future? She has suf- 
i'ereA much, she has b2eh wounded deeply, 
her body is covered over with the evidences 
of these wounds and this suffering. This 
old State — that has been so kind to you, so 
generous to me, beyond all that I deserve, 
beyond, perhaps, what you deserve — this 
noble, gallant, bleeding old State calls upon 
her sons to come forward and aid in the 
good work of redeeming her from the hand 
of the wrong doer and oppressor. Is there 
in all Georgia one single heart, native or 
foreign, who will not respond in this the 
hour of her greatest trial, the hour in which 
she is struggling for liberty and for the con- 
stitutional rights of all her children? The 
issue is fairly before you, my friends. None 
can fail to read it right. No man can plead 
ignorance. Not one who heard the expo- 
sition to which you and I have listened 
this morning, not one who has heard the 
eloquent voices of her sons throughout this 
land for months, can plead ignorance here- 
after. The issue is made ; on the one hand 
is a continuance and aggravation of the 
wrongs from which she has so long suffer- 
ed and is still suffering, and on the other a 
speedy deliverance from the bonds which 
have bound her and the opening of a 
bright and promising future. The path is 
open ; you are invited to tread it. On the 
one hand there is darkness, and shadow, 
and gloom, and continued misfortune and 
oppression; and on the other there is 
freedom, prosperity and peace. Choose 
you this day between these two offerings 
made for your free-will acceptance. My 
friends, that great party of this country 
which now brings within its fold every true 
man of the land, Noi^th, South, East, and 
West, without reference to past political 
differences, comes and tenders you the 
guarantees of that Constitution which was 
framed by the wisdom and consecrated by 
the blood of your fathers Come and stand 
by us. Give your support to the men who 
are pledged to carry out these principles. 

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES. 

We have put a candidate before you for 
the highest office in the country — a man 
known as a statesman throughout the land 
— a man whose record in the past ha&been 
true to those great principles of constitu- 



tional right; We have placed before you 
a candidate for Vice President, one who, 
it is true, like Gen. Grant, fought you 
during the war,but, unlike General Grant, 
ceased to fight you when the war was over. 
[Applause. 1 I honor a brave man. lean 
do reverence to his virtues, though he has 
drawn the sword against me. I honor 
such a man, and to-day give evidence of 
it in the cordiality with which I will cast 
my vote for Frank P. Blair for Vice Pres 
ident of the United States. But the man 
who, after the battle is over, travels over 
the field, and, with a valor that I cannot 
commend, draws his sword to thrust it in- 
to each corpse as he passes along, such a 
man can nev^r command my respect, and 
if my advice is heeded will never get a vote 
in Georgia. 

Let the people of the North understand 
that we give to Seymour and Blair our 
warm and hearty support, with a perfect 
knowledge on our part that the one in the 
Cabinet and the other on the field were 
fully identified with those who prosecuted 
the war against us, and to whose over- 
whelming numbers we finally surrendered. 
We do not pretend to say that we support 
them because they M'aried against us, but 
in spite of it, believing, as we do, that in a 
restored Union they will extend to us those 
sacred constitutional rights of which they 
are now the chosen and honored represent- 
atives. And this is all that the people of 
the South ask or expect at the hands of the 
people of the North. 

These are the men, these are the pledges 
which are offered to you by those whom 1 
commend to your confidence and support 
to-day. On the other hand you are offered 
for the Presidency Gen. Grant. I have 
said as much of him as he ever said of him- 
self, and, therefore, ho has no right 
to complain that I have not treated him 
with proper respect. Of Mr. Colfax, the 
candidate for the Vice Presidency, I am 
not sufficiently informed of his history in 
order to give you any very satisfactory 
account of him. My opinion is, however, 
if, when in the days of his infancy, his 
mother had been told that he would be a 
candidate for A'ice President, it would 
have run the old lady crazy. I Laughter 
and cheers.] It is sufficient to say of them 
that they stand before you as the repre- 
sentatives of the Chicago platform. That 
is condemnation enough. But these men, 
fellow-citizens, are -of to-day and will pass 
away. The principles which they repre- 
sent belong to the future and will live long 
after those who uplield them are forgotten. 

THE CHICAGO PI^TFORM. 

You have before you the great political 



truths presented by the Democracy of the' we reserve the old landmarks gf the Con- 
country. Let US go for a moment to'stitution ?" To-day they defend the policy 
Chicago and see what was presented thereS which puts these negroes in the Legisla 



for the people of this country. What_ is 
offered to you by that convention of wild 
and bad men who placed General Grant 
and Mr. Colfax before the country ? I 
will not stop to discuss the double->faced 
resolutions on finance. I come to the 
main starting proposition which j^ou are 
called upon to give your sanction to, and 
which most nearly affects your interests. 



ture. To-day that platform say. s my friend 
[pointing to Mr. Toombs] and myself are 
properly and justly excluded from the 
right of suffrage, from the right of hold- 
ing office; but these negroes are the proper 
people to make laws to govern and control 
this great and good State of Georgia. 

SCALAWAGS AND CARPET- BAG QKRS. 

What think you of Northern men who 



Fellow-citizens, that platform announcesjwho are prepared to perpetual o this geati 
to you that a white man's Government! wrong and outrage upon our people ? C^u 
shall be guaranteed to the people of the you say to them, "Brother?" Can you 
North, but thai, uegroes are good enough say to them, "Friend?" Cau you wel- 
for Georgia and the people of the South, jcomc them to your house, when they 
I do not pretend to quote the language or jcome toyour midst, either vnxh the in- 
the precise words, but such are the prin-jsignia of office or in the habiIi';icntof pri- 
ciples and doctrines enunciated. The Radi-jvate citizens? Why should ihey wonder 
eals have not denied it in their press — land stand amazed because v.'e bid them 
they have not denied it by their public not to the feast when our tiusids 
riien — they cannot, dare not, deny it. 



That 
platlbrm says that the negroes of the 
South shall be guaranteed and protected 



vited to assemble and make 
themselves ? Shall these 
these men, to expect it ? P 



are in- 
jijinry among 
nien, ought 
Li; clon me if I 
in the exercise of political power, the right i dwell upon it. I want to expu .s:. it, and 1 
of suffrage, the right of sitting in the jury- j urge it upon you, until there shall exist 
box, the right of holding seats in the Leg- in the heart and soul of every son and 
islatureand upon the bench, and that it is {daughter that walks and bMiithes her 
all right and proper for you and for the 'pure air, and lives upori her ha[>i,)y soi', 
people of the South that this should be this conviction, that these men ol' xh^'. 
the case ; but when asked to put it to the North, these Chicago men, these men who 



people of the North, to the freemen of the 
West, and the freemen of the East and 
the Middle States, they said,' "No ! they 
are entitled to a white man's govern- 
ment; they are entitled to the protection 
whicu had been given them by the fathers 
of the land, from the earliest organization 
of the Government; they are the sons of 
the revolutionary fathers who fought and 
with their blood won the liberty of this 
country — by their wisdom adopted the 
Constitution. They shall have a white 
man's government; they are worthy of it ; 
they deserve it ; but for those rebels down 
South, those men in Georgia, those women 



ca!l upon you to vote for Grant and Col- 
fax, and that Grant and Colfax, who have 
indorsed these things, are neither worthy 
of your vote, your respect, or of your confi- 
dence, much less of your kindness and 
hospitality. My friends, they are our ene- 
mies. I state it in cool and calm debate. If 
they were our friends, they could not dou- 
bly wrong us, and if there beat in their bosom 
one single kindly emotion for the people 
of the South, they would never have 
made this public declaration to the world 
of your unworthiness and the contempt 
which they feel for you. Enemies they 
were in war, enemies they continue to be 



and children in Georgia, they deserve no in peace. In war we drew the sword and 



such protection; they shall have guaran 
teed to them no such Government. " My 
friends, what think you of these men of 
the North ? What think you of the 
Grants and Colfaxes? of the Thad Ste- 
veuses ? the Sumners and the Wilsons of 



bade them defiance; in peace we gather 
up the manhood of the South, and raising 
the banner of constitutional equality, and 
gathering around it the good men of the 
North as well as the South, we hurl into 
their teeth to-day the same defi- 



the North, who went to Chiciago and thenjance, and bid them come on to the strug- 
wrote it down in cold blood— there was no gle. We are ready for ^t if they are. 
passion — there was no excitement — there! [Great applause.] But, mv countrymen, 
were no war tones sounding throughout jit those are the feelings which rise in our 
the land— but coolly, calmly, passionless, bosom, in reference to these men of the 
they wrote it down upon their platform : j North — these men who have no bond oi' 
"The people of the South, you must sub-iunion with you— these men who never 
mit to negro suffrage, you must submit tojtrod upon your soil unless it was to plun~ 
negro supremacy; but for our own peoplelder and to rob— these men who know not 



these women and these children — these the negro. That is six more votes for Joe 
men who have never worshiped at your Brown. I will give him about three more, 
altars, who never communed with the, and quit hiui. I say to you, my friends, 
^ood men and women of your State you owe it to yourselves, you owe 
around that altar erected to the livin;j it to the noble dead who sleep in 
Grod — if these arc your feelings toward their graves, to observe these things. You 
strangers in blood, and sympathy, and 'go here, and I honor you for it, and scat- 
association, what can be your feelings ter flowers over those graves, God bless 
toward those men of Georgia who trav- you for it I They are the graves of good,' 
oiled these hundreds of miles to meet thesejtrue, and honest, and noble, and brave, 
men at Cfiicago, who sat upon the bcnch-and generous men. [Apulause. J But as 
with them, who went into the conncil'you return from that solemn duly turn 
chamber with them, and who there joined your back to the right and left, upon those 
their voices and united their hearts in pro- who dishonor the memory of the dead, 
nouncing that the men whom they have You owo it to thcliving,you owe it to your 
left behind thera- the men of Georgia own children and to their children. Write 
who had honored them overmuch, who down in their memories this day and all 
had lifted them from the lowest dregs of day* and for all time to come the feeling 
society and elevated them to the hishest and spirit of abhorrence with which you 
offices of honor, profit, and trust. What' regard these men. 0, Heaven I i or some 
say you of such men who went to Chicago, blistering words that I may write infamy 
and there, crouching at the feet of our upon the forehead of these men [ap- 
enemies, declared that these good people of plause] . that they may tnivel through 
Georgia des'.'rred_ the fate that had come earth despised of all men and rejected of 
upon them, of being put under the ban of heaven, scorned by the devil himself 
negro supremacy? My countrymen, don't 'They may seek their final congenial rest- 
think I speak harsh words because I say'ingplace under the mudsills of that an- 
hard truths. I speak ofthose delegates cient institution prepared tor them from 
to the Ciiicag* Convention I speak of the beginning of the world. [Laughter 
thera in unmeasured term?. and applause.] 

.lOE 15R0WN. SOMETHIiNG FOR NORTHERN .MKN TO TELL 

A friend told me, as I was coming heftj when they go home vrom thk south. 
the other day, that he heard another sas Fellow- citizens, being in a counseling 
that by a speech that I had made at Davis and advising mood to-day, I am disposed 
Hall 1 had made half a dozen votes for to ask a favor of another class of our 
Joe Brown. Well, I come to make half a fellow- citizens ; a class of whom I have not 
dozen more to-day. He and his associates 'asked favors heretofore. They have been 
were at Chicago He and his associates J amongst us for the last three years, men 
joined and united in pronouncing this in- of the North, some of them in high mili- 
famous docftine — the negro is good enough tary position, some of them wearing the 
for Georgia, but not good enough for Ohio simple vestments of private life. Now the 
and New York. Are not the people of time has come when many of these are to 
Georgia right in assigning him the .statu? leave us and return back to their homes, 
which ho has taken for himself? If and in the part which thev have played to 
negroes are good enough for Georgia, it is return no more forever. [Applause.] 
that kind of Georgia that he is, and I shair Now, of these gentlemen personally, 1 
not dispute the doctrine. [Laushtcr and know nothing, but I have a word to say to 
applause.] Let him associate with them, | them and to ask them to bear a message 
but white men of this country cut loose from the people of the South to the people 
from him. [A voice says "Amen."] of the North. You have been here for 
Amen and Amen! Let it reverberate three years. When you return to your 
over your mountains, down your valleys, | homes tell your people that you came here 
trom your old men and your young men, and found our land one general plain of 
your women and your children, until one desolation; the ashes stand, or stood then, 
grand chorus shall ring throtigh every where this beautiful city now stands. You 
throbbing heart ! "Overboard with him !" found our people overwhelmed by numbers, 
"He has turned traitor to the country !" 1 a conquered people, if you please, but a 
tell you very frankly, my friends, I am not brave and generous people still. You 
an intolerant man ! but, when I sec a white' have been in our midst and have seen the 
man talking to Joe Brown and that class wrongs that have been done this people, 
of men, a feeling of revulsion comes over| You have seen their old men and their 
me. I can't help it. But when I see young men torn from the bosom of their 
them talking to^ a negro, I feel sorry forifamilies, and from their labor and occupa- 



■ \ 



tion without warrant or authority of con- 1 them that on the 4th day of July — a day 
stitutional law. You have seen them car-j memorable in the history of your country 
ried to the dungeon, and from the dungeon! — a day honored and celebrated by the 
to the courts which had no jurisdiction|goodmeu of the land — Georgia was sum- 
under the Constitution. Tell your people jmoned by the party who now rules her 
of the North these things, when you go. [destiny, to assemble in mass convention at 



Tell them, too, you have seen the polls 
opened, you have seen Georgia's noblest 
sons, born upon the soil and reared under 
her institutions, sons whom she has delight- 
ed to honor, sons whom you have received 
with welcoming arms in all the Northern 
States— you have seen these sons, upon 
whose character not one single blot rests, 
you have seen them driven from the polls. 
Tell them that ! Tell them that you have 
seen the poor, ignorant, debased, un- 
happy, unfortunate, and deluded negro 
taken, not by the voice of persuasion and 
of argument, but by a power which he 
could not and dare not resist, and you 
have seen him go and fill up that ballot- 
box that formerly received the votes of the 
good and true men of Georgia. Tell them 
that you have stood here in her legislative 
halls. Gray-headed fathers have told you 
that these seats were once filled by the 
noblest and truest men of the land— her 
Cra'vford, her Troup, her Forsyth, her 
Berrien, her Lumpkin, her Wayne— her 
great and good men in the days that are 
past. Around me here I see the gray- 
headed fathers of this land who once filled 
these seats. Tell them whom you saw 
there on yesterday. True, some of her sons, 
good and true men, are there to try to save 
and rescue their State from wrong, but 
tell them that the seats of Troup and 
Clark were filled by two negroes who could 
not write their names. Tell them that 
my own old county of Clark — these men 
will recognize the name when I speak of 
Clayton, Dougherty, Hull, and Hope, and 
Thomas, and, in later days, the brave and 
gallant Deloney, and other good citizens — 
tell them when you go to the North the 
seats formerly occupied by these men were 
filled by illiterate negroes. Tell them when 
you go there that in times past you were 
told that the good men of Georgia assem- 
bled at her capitol to inaugurate her gov- 
ernment, these men whose names I have 
mentioned to you ; bift never in all the 
history of this State was any man, be he 
good or bad, placed in that chair, with 
those insignia of office, but in response to 
the voice of the people of Georgia. 

I care not, gentlemen of the North, mil- 
itary and civilians, with what prejudices 
you come here; I care not how passion has 
been inflamed. These are solemn truths, 
and it is your duty as honest men to tell 
the message I this day give you. Tell 



her Capital. You were here and saw that 
scene. Go, I ask it as a favor; I will hum- 
ble myself so far as to beg that the truth 
may be carried from Georgia and spread 
broadcast among your people. You wit- 
nessed that assembly. It was a mass 
meeting of the Radicals of Georgia. 
Twenty white men were there, and proba- 
bly all who deserved the name of white 
men, outside of spectators, did not reach 
quite a-half a dozen. They were a motley 
crowd of negroes. They spoke of Georgia; 
they thanked this beneficent legislation 
that had brought the great blessing upon 
the land. Men stood upon that platform 
who been honored by Georgia, and, ad- 
dressing that assembly of dark faces and 
kinky heads, with not one white man scat- 
tered, here or there, called them "my coun- 
trymen ! ' ' Well, if they are his country- 
men, let him and his countrymen seek some 
more congenial climate. Africa is open to 
him, and not knowing Joe as well as I do, 
the people of that continent might bid him 
come. 

Go, gentlemen of the North, and tell 
your people that there was assembled in 
Georgia — this great and noble old State — 
that crowd ! and a more respectable one 
works on my plantation every day, be- 
cause they work for their d|iily bread and 
meat, and are respectable compared to the 
set of worthless creatures whom the Radi- 
cals of both North and South pretend to 
call the people of Georgia. 

Tell them that that was the people in 
whose hands and under whose control you 
left this noble old State, when you turned 
your back upon me, to seek your own 
homes, and then tell them that on the 23d 
of July there was another assemblage call- 
ing themselves the people of Georgia. — 
Come now, and stand here by my side. I 
want you to cast your eyes over this vast 
assembly. Come and look upon those 
daughters of Georgia, and, gentlemen of 
the North, tell me— you have hearts — you 
have souls — you have in your own Slates 
mothers, wtves, and sisters ; I ask you to 
come here to-day and stand upon this plat- 
form and look upon our mothers, and sis- 
ters and wives and little ones, and tell me 
in your heart is it right and just and 
proper? Does your own heart dictate it, 
that those women and chWdren ought to be 
under the dominion of those negroes that 
assembled on the Fourth of July ? If there 



is one pulsation left in your heart — if there! who was worthy of the respect and confi- 
is one single throb left to beat for the peo- dence of a gentleman. ( Applause. | 
pie of the South — come and look upon this And when you are a>ked by your people 
picture. Around them you see old men, what are the views and sentimentn and 
denounced they have been as rebels, but purposes of the people of the South, do un 
from their youth up they have lived in, the justice to pronounce the charge that 
Georgia. Their neighbors know them, we are hostile to the Union and the Con* 
respect them, esteem them, love them. — stitution, and that we desire to renew the 
Ought these men to be placed under that bitter conflict through which we have just 
negro dominion? Ought these men to be, passed, as false and unfounded. Tell them 
ro(juired to bow their necks to the yoke j that when you heard the people of Geor- 
which oppression and despotism have pre- gia asserting their claims to perfect equali* 
pared for them ? ty in the Union under the Constitution, 

Oh, men of the North, as ye travel^ou.coujd not find it in your heart to deny 
homeward, spread these truths broad-l^^ejustice of their claims, and that the 
cast; and when you receive a cordial I P^o^t of the Radical party as manifested 
welcome into your own homestead, and!'" ^^^ir Congressional Legislation and 
that wife and mother and daughter im-jfffir'"ed in the most olTensive shape in 
press upon your lips the kiss of affection l^'^^^'" Chicago platform, should .not find 
and love, remember, I beg you, remem it{°°"g ^'^,6 honest and true men of the 
ber the mothers, and wives, and daugh-l-Jf™e'ther an advocate or an apologist- 
ters of Georgia. If you cannot feel fori ^^i' thena that you believe it to be wrong, 
them in that hour, then the spirit of love j^^^ ^^^^^y , they had been among us and 
and affection has departed from you>itnessed what you have witnessed, they 



never again to be reclaimed. Tell them 
that in the midst of all this desolation, 
in the midst of all these wrongs that there 
was not in all Georgia a single daughter 
hat bowed her head to the yoke. Tell them 
that our brave men stood submissive at the 



would unite with you in condemning the 
injustice whi'^h these things have done 
to us. 

Tell them that the people of the South 
are ready and anxious for the restoration 
of perfect harmony and conciliation, when- 



point of the bayonet. Tell them that kind- ever the terms upon which the restoration 
ness and generosity would have won back '^ offered, are such as brave and honorable 
the allegiance of their hearts, but all the ™en can accept— that they long for peace, 
bayonets that ever were made in the Ameri- ^"^ ^\ '""st not be linked with dishonor- 
Union cannot drive manhood from ^n^^ -the_ people of the North should bear m 



can 

their breasts, 



[Applause. I Tell them that 



last, hating their enemies, loving their 
friends, and, even if ft had been necessary, 



mind when they offer to us terms of hu- 



these men were brave and generous to the t^ihation, they not only wrong us bu> 



themselves also. Tell them that as you 
communed with our people you found 



from the scaffold they would have hurled I '^at the aspirations of our young men, the 
defiance into the teeth of their oppressors. P.^^y^^ ,, °"' °'^ '"^"' "°^ the ardent de- 
They would have welcomed every noble I ''^Te of all, were to restore a violated Con- 
and generous heart to the South with a l^^'^^^^'O", cement a weakened Union, and 
cordiality they extend alone to those theylJ^°'*^ *" 'he people of this great country 
love. [Applause.] Tell them, moreover, ^J^? ,^ '^^^'"on and cordial brotherhood.— 
Georgia has a home for every true man ofl-^^^! them these things, and if you pre^ 
the North. She has a welcome for every true ^^"'^ the picture faithfully, you will have 

man that will come to live among us and'™^^® A^'^^o^ser ^'"8"™^°*' ^"^ .^ J^^J^ 
with u« and be of us. But she has neither ^^"'^V"^ ^PP®^' ^^^ fceymour and Blair, 
.•I true welcome nor a false hospitality to ^5° ^^^°.P"^ '° .y^^^" inouths to-day.— 
offer to those who come to wrong and op-i^his, this is the picture that 1 want you 
press them, and when you have told|'^° present. 

them all this, tell them that in an appeal to the erring. 

Georgia there was but one voice,' Fellow-citizens, I come to-day in the 
one heart, one soul, one spirit. When you spirit of tolerance. I want to bury in 
turn your back upon the State, looking Georgia bitter recollections of the past. 



through all her length and breadth, upon 
her mountains, in her valleys, in her cities, 
in her towns, along the public highways, 



You and I ! ave differed for days and for 
years — since the hour in which my voice 
was first raised in the public meetings of 



in the public and private workshops, you my country. I come to-day to present you 
dont't leave behind you one single whiteja platform, present candidates, and invite 
Kadical advocate of the Chicago platform every good and true man in Georgia to 



join with me in the good work. Come — if | deemed ? But yet there plays a pleasant 

you have gone far astray come back. The | smile; a beam of hope comes gushing from^ 

doors are wide open, wide enough, j each eye. Let it gush upon the altars of 

broad enough to receive every white man i your heart, rekindle the flames that have 

in Georgia, unless you should discover | almost gone out, and hereto-day let all 

him coming to you creeping and crawliugj Georgia's sons come and unite in this great 

under the Chicago platforn:. Upon therajand glorious work. Her banner hangs 

there should be no mercy. They have dis-| drooping. Iler proud insitutions live only 

honored themselves and sought to dishon iin memory. When she was a white 

or j'ou Anathematiib them. Drive man's government she was proud, 

them from the pale of social and political i honored, happy, prosperous. Come, 

society. Leave them to wallow in their (and at this altar unite with me, and, 

own mire and filth. Nobody will envy | by the grace of Heaven, let us once more 

them, and if they are never taken out of; make Georgia! white man's government. 

the gully until I reach forth my hand tol It is for you to say, by your vjtes and by 

take them up, they will die in their natu-jyour actions, whether the sun of jier great- 

ral element. [Laughter and applause.] loess shall again reach to meridian splen- 

But all othei^ come that have differed j dor. Old men come. Mothers, to your 

about reconstruction. I could not go with i altars, and carry your daughters with you. 

you. I thought you were wrong. WeJAsk the prayers of Heaven upon your 

differed in reference to the constitutionaljfriends, upon your fathers, your husbands, 

amendment. I thought you «ere still | and sons. Young men, in whose veins 

further from the path. But my friends,! the red blood of youth runs so quickly, let 

come now— come, retrace your steps, j the ardor of your temperaments, the pul- 

You stand upon the bank; you sations of your hearts, all beat for Georgia! 

have taken the last step you can} Your old State, the State of your fathers, 

take and recover lost ground. Come out i that holds in reserve honors innumerable 

from among this people, I appeal to youifor you and them, come ! Come one and 

in the name of the past, in the memoriesiail, and let us snatch the old banner from 

of the past, in the hopes of the future. , the dust, give it again to the breeze, and, 

Sons of Georgia, come out from among thisiif needs be, to the God of battles, and 

people. I appeal tD you in their name, strike one more honest blow for constitu- 

Oh! can you stand here and look upon|tional libeity. [Prolonged and cnthu- 

t.hese faces full of mourning for the past,, siastic applause. 1 

full of grief over that which cannot be re- 



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